Temper
Definition
Material deliberately added to clay before forming to reduce drying shrinkage and firing cracking; common temper types include sand, grog (crushed old pottery), shell, volcanic ash, and organic material. Temper choice varies regionally and culturally.
Related terms
- Ceramic Fabric
- The combination of clay matrix and included particles (temper, natural inclusions, and voids) that makes up a fired ceramic; the raw material...
- Dehydroxylation
- The loss of structural hydroxyl groups from clay minerals (principally kaolinite) between about 450 and 600 °C during firing; an irreversible reaction...
- Grog
- Crushed fragments of previously fired ceramic mixed into new clay as temper; recognisable in thin section by their fired-clay texture, which differs...
- Mullite
- An aluminosilicate phase (3Al2O3·2SiO2) that nucleates in fired clay above roughly 980 °C, coinciding with the characteristic exothermic reaction of the kaolinite-to-mullite...
- Provenance
- The documented origin of a media file: the device that captured it, the time and location of capture, the chain of custody...
Explained in
- Brick, Ceramic, and Ceramic PetrologyMaterial deliberately added to clay before forming to reduce drying shrinkage and firing cracking; common temper types include sand, grog (crushed old pottery)...